Current Technology (and some politics)

Swain Computer Services: Growing Business

2010-07-09T17:21:00.001-05:00

Plenty of good news in the business world. Tuesday, I became a member of Dell PartnerDirect, which allows me to resell Dell products and services. And today, I became a member of the Hoisington Chamber of Commerce.

Plenty of exciting things to come as well. I am currently working on a referral program, computer education program, and an online store. Stay tuned for updates.

Facebook Competitor?

2010-06-29T23:48:00.007-05:00

Ok, to start off, I’m not a big ‘Tech Rumor’ guy, in the sense that I don’t like to spread potentially false or misleading information out there, but this rumor intrigues me. The rumor started from Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) who sent a tweet saying: “Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon 'Google Me,' very credible source.”

This one sentence has set the internet ablaze with all kinds of talk. The reality of the situation is Google is probably the only company right now that has the resources to take on Facebook. And between Android OS for smartphones and soon-to-be-released Chrome OS for PCs, this would make a perfect addition to their offerings. Stay tuned as I’m sure there will be more to this as time goes along.

Adobe Reader 9.3.3

2010-06-29T23:48:00.006-05:00

Be sure to go out to Adobe and download the latest version of Adobe Reader (version 9.3.3). Also, if you didn't install the Adobe Flash update, now is a good time to do that as well. If you need help with this, Contact Me.

FarmVille, Flash and Firefox

2010-06-29T23:47:00.003-05:00

If you’re not on Facebook, I’m sure you know someone who is. If you are on Facebook, you probably have heard of a game called FarmVille. FarmVille is a game where you run what I would call more of a ranch than a farm, but you raise crops, raise livestock, plant fruit trees, and build buildings. Well, due to some security issues of late with Adobe Flash, and to increase browser stability, Firefox recently gained a feature called ‘out of process plug-ins’ which will give running plug-ins, such as Flash and Quicktime, 10 seconds to become responsive if they ever get stuck or the plug-in would shut down.

The good news is it made the browser more stable and crash-resistant. The bad news is, it caused some major issues with FarmVille. Due to the size of the FarmVille community, Mozilla (the company that created Firefox) has changed the time limit from 10 seconds to 45 seconds. This changed seems to have resolved the problem.

Android App Review: Ringdroid

2010-06-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ah, those pesky ringtones. They either cost you an arm and a leg, or you just can't find the song you want. I don't know about you, but it drives me crazy! Fortunately, there is an answer to this: Ringdroid.

Ringdroid allows you to take songs/audio files you have on your Android phone, select what part that you want, and use it for a ringtone, alert, alarm, or pretty much anything you could ever need.This has saved me alot of money and headache in getting just the right sounds for incoming calls.

Ratings
Market: 4.5/5

My Ratings
Business: 3/5
Education: 4/5
Gaming: 5/5
Casual: 5/5

In short, this app is something that any Android user could find useful!

Android App Review: Scanner Radio

2010-06-17T15:15:00.003-05:00

Some of you know about my hobby of radios and scanners. This app falls right in line with that hobby, yet it is very useful for just about everyone. Scanner Radio lets you listen to volunteer's scanners across the country. The only real downfall to this app is it doesn't cover everyone, due to it being volunteer submissions. Even so, it can be a useful tool when large events are taking place, like highway closures or severe weather.

Also, some areas are going to digital radio systems, which require expensive scanners to listen to. Locally, KDOT, KHP, Reno and Russell counties have switched, or are in the process of switching.

I can say that Reno and Saline counties are covered by this app locally, as are almost every larger city you would visit. Pawnee County and LaCrosse are listed, but were offline at the time of writing this article.

Ratings
Market: 4.5/5

My Ratings
Business: 2/5
Education: 2/5
Gaming: N/A
Casual: 4/5

This application isn't for everyone, but whenever you want to hear something, this app is here to help.

Adobe Flash 10.1

2010-06-16T12:37:00.002-05:00

Security is always a major concern on Windows PCs these days. Flash, no matter what Apple may say, is a staple platform for most people on the internet. However, since it is software, it has security holes in it.

Anyone that spends any time on the internet should get the latest version of Flash...VERY SOON. The security of your PC is at stake, and it is a very simple download which takes very little time.

With these kinds of updates becoming more frequent, I will be looking into making an update checklist of sorts to help people keep their machines stable and secure.

Android App Review: Air Control

2010-06-12T00:19:00.004-05:00

Being that it's a Saturday, I thought I would review a game. Air Control is a surprisingly addictive game. There are three spots to land a variety of aircraft. Helicopters being the slowest land on a helipad. Small planes land on the small plane runway. The two remaining planes, large prop planes and jets land on the large runway. All you do is drag the planes to their destinations, and the planes follow their flight path. The game starts out pretty slow, but adds aircraft more quickly over time.

Rating
Market Rating: 4.5/5

My Ratings
Business: N/A
Education: N/A
Gaming: 4/5
Casual: 3/5

Since this is a simple game that can be played in about 5-10 minutes, it makes it a perfect game to take a breather in the middle of a day.

Android App Review: Dropbox

2010-05-14T21:03:00.005-05:00

Have you ever gotten to work or school and suddenly remembered that you left your notes on your computer at the house? There is a free service that can help you out! Dropbox is an online storage application for your PC or Mac. It also has an application for most mobile devices, including Android and iPhone, and a Blackberry app is just around the corner.

2 Gb of storage is available for free, but they have 50 Gb and 100 Gb plans if you need more storage.

Installation is very easy on the PC, and for the Android phones, just search for Dropbox in the market app. On the PC that you install Dropbox, it creates a folder that automatically syncs the data with Dropbox. All you have to do is move (or copy) the file into this folder and then you can see it anywhere you have Dropbox installed.

There is also a folder where you can share items with your friends or coworkers that use Dropbox.

Rating
Market Rating: 4/5

My Ratings
Business: 5/5
Education: 5/5
Gaming: N/A
Casual: 3/5

This application/service is excellent for those in school or keeping notes handy at work. It is easy to use for the casual user, however the usefulness may be limited on how much they actually would use the service. Gamers may not find a use for this application.

Android App Review

2010-05-14T09:12:00.002-05:00

I am going to start doing some Android App reviews. I've been working with my Motorola Droid for some time now, and I've tried probably 100 apps, give or take. Let me know what your favorite apps are as well, and I will try them out.

Android OS, viruses, and a bottle of Vault.

2010-04-28T10:40:00.001-05:00

I've been using my Motorola Droid for almost a month, now, stepping up from my first smartphone (Audiovox PPC6700) and into a larger world. One of the most amazing things I've seen so far is how open the development community is. Google has really made it easy to step up and build applications for the phone. Phones like these are leading into something called Augmented Reality, which literally blends your surroundings into applications. I have some ideas on what I'd like to see, but I don't have time to put it into working code.

Speaking of Google, they have released results of a study done in 2009 concerning those fake antivirus programs out there. Collectively, antivirus programs are only detecting about 20% of these programs after being released into the wild. This would explain why I am fixing alot of these. More on that later once I find the link to show everyone.

Meanwhile, my bottle of Vault is running low. They only sell Coke products on campus...

Google Voice - Phone Number Privacy

2009-10-27T11:29:00.004-05:00

I've decided to open up a blog to put some of my little musings down about various topics, and to hopefully save the ears of my wife, who puts up with all of my computer and political talk. I love you! Also, there is only so much that you can fit into 140 characters on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/SwainComputers).

So I've had Google Voice for a while now (got my invite at the end of July), and it is a really cool tool that does several things. It combines all of your phones into one phone number that you select from Google's large selection of numbers. Most cities around here have numbers that you can use.

Inside Google Voice, you can put numbers into different groups, which can act differently depending on how you set it up. For instance, if a coworker were to call me, it would route the call to all of my phones: home, cell, and work. However, if one of my friends called me, it would only route the call to my home and cell. You can also set up voicemail greetings for each group, so my coworkers would get a different greeting than my friends. You can also send a group directly to voicemail, or you can set all calls to do not disturb, which sends everything to voicemail. When you get your voicemails, it will transcribe them and send them to you in email, or through a text message. You can then read them.

Also, since this service masks your numbers from incoming callers (and you can call out using Google Voice to use its number), you can give it out to people or companies that you may not want to have your real number. If you start getting strange calls, or you just don't like them anymore, you can put their number in a block list.

Another advantage is that Google Voice is SMS enabled, so you can send and receive text messages through Google Voice.

If you want to see what it sounds like on your end, call, or send a text to 620-603-1776.